After 14 years and more than 40 million individual parkruns, Alex Yee's 13:57 in south London is the second fastest yet

One of Britain’s rising athletic stars, 20-year-old Alex Yee, ran 13:57 yesterday at Dulwich parkrun in London, the second-fastest parkrun time ever recorded in its 14-year history. Parkrun is the community running phenomenon that started in the UK and has expanded around the world.

Yee, a competitive runner and triathlete, won the Night of the 10,000m PB’s in London on May 19, with a time of 27:51.94, and competed in his first Diamond League race in London in July. Yee only returned to competition this year after suffering a serious bike crash in a triathlon last year.

The fastest parkrun on record is 13:48, set by Andrew Baddeley at Bushy parkrun in London in 2012. Bushy was the very first parkrun location, and has become one of the most popular, with over 1,000 participants every week.

Parkrun was invented in 2004 by Paul Sinton-Hewitt, a 43-year-old engineer whose life was not going well at the time. He’d lost his job, had a relationship end, and was injured and couldn’t run the London Marathon, as he’d planned. He decided to do something to give back to the running community, and parkrun was born.

Parkrun is a regular weekly timed 5K run that is free of charge. Since runs are timed and results recorded, it appeals to those looking for fast competition. But its genius lies in the fact that it is also free, inclusive, and highly supportive of beginners and recreational runners. More than 42 million parkruns have been recorded since 2004.